Friday

Google, Tips, Web

What did you Search for in 2007?

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It’s not rocket science to work out that search trends can be highly seasonal depending on the year, month or even day and that such trends provide some interesting insights into what’s hot, what’s topical and sometimes what you have missed out during the year !

Google, Yahoo and Ask.com have all revealed their 2007 search trends data and it certainly provides interesting readings as to how many of the keywords did YOU use through out the year and what went on through out the year.

Here is the Google List:

Fastest Rising (global)

1. iphone
2. badoo
3. facebook
4. dailymotion
5. webkinz
6. youtube
7. ebuddy
8. second life
9. hi5
10. club penguin

Google News Most Popular Searches (global)

1. american idol
2. youtube
3. britney spears
4. 2007 cricket world cup
5. chris benoit
6. iphone
7. anna nicole smith
8. paris hilton
9. iran
10. vanessa hudgens

Presidential Campaign (most searched-for)

1. ron paul
2. fred thompson
3. hillary clinton
4. barack obama
5. john edwards
6. mitt romney
7. john mccain
8. joe biden
9. bill richardson
10. rudy giuliani

Here is the Ask.com top 10:

Ask.com’s Top Searches of 2007

1. MySpace
2. Dictionary
3. Google
4. Themes
5. Area Codes
6. Cars
7. Weather
8. Games
9. Song Lyrics
10. Movies

Ask.com’s Top Presidential Candidate Searches of 2007

1. Barack Obama
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Fred Thompson
4. John Edwards
5. Mitt Romney
6. John McCain
7. Ron Paul
8. Rudy Giuliani
9. Mike Huckabee
10. Dennis Kucinich

Interestingly, Yahoo broke up the search trends into various quite specific categories including news, environmental, celebrities etc.

Yahoo’s search trends

News Stories – top 10 news stories

1. Saddam Hussein
2. Iran
3. Iraq
4. President George W. Bush
5. Oil and Gas prices
6. Barack Obama
7. Hillary Rodham Clinton
8. San Diego Fires
9. Afghanistan
10. Virginia Tech

Grass is Always Greener – top 10 environmental searches

1. Recycling
2. Global Warming
3. Freecycle
4. Earth
5. Pollution
6. Al Gore
7. Environmental Protection Agency
8. Live Earth
9. Hybrid Cars
10. Solar Energy

Celebrity Downslides – top 10 troubled stars

1. Britney Spears
2. Paris Hilton
3. Anna Nicole Smith
4. Vanessa Anne Hudgens
5. Nicole Richie
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Rosie O’Donnell
8. Tara Conner
9. Michael Vick
10. Owen Wilson

The Year of I, You and Wii – top 10 in tech

1. YouTube
2. Wikipedia
3. Facebook
4. iTunes
5. iPod
6. iPhone
7. Nintendo Wii
8. Xbox
9. Sony PlayStation 3
10. Guitar Hero

nmmm.. I am not sure about you, but the Google report showed that I missed out on some serious actions around Badoo, DailyMotion and Webkinz ! Had no idea what they were until I read the report today!

Here is the best apple to apple comparison of search trends between the search engines I can come up with.

Presidential Campaign/Presidential Candidate Searches

 

Ranking	Google Trends	Ask.com Trends
1	Ron Paul	Barack Obama
2	Fred Thompson	Hilary Clinton
3	Hilary Clinton	Fred Thompson
4	Barack Obama	John Edwards
5	John Edwards	Mitt Romney
6	Mitt Romney	John McCain
7	John McCain	Ron Paul
8	Joe Biden	Rudy Giuliani
9	Bill Richardson	Mike Huckabee
10	Rudy Giuliani	Dennis Kucinich

Roughly same list of people, slightly different order, and I guess being search frequently on search engines can be both a good and bad signs as a presidential candidate depending on how you interpret it. But if this is a true representation of the search pattern of the general public, is it telling us something about the user demographics of the two different search engines ? I am sure it does, but I just don’t know enough about these candidates to comment on that. I would love for someone to tell me something based on this comparison!

How did your search pattern match up with the global trend ? Did you learn any thing from these lists ?